Maharashtra jewellers temporarily call off strike, to meet Goyal today

Over 300 associations comprising over 3 lakh manufacturers, retainers, wholesalers, artisans among others, participated in the stir across the country.

Jewellers in Maharashtra temporarily called off their strike from April 14 to 24, which has been on since March 2 against the one percent excise duty proposed in the Budget.

Jewellers protesting against the proposed hike in excise duty on jewellery in Mumbai, took back their strike temporarily on Monday. (PTI file photo)

“We are meeting the Union minister Piyush Goyal tomorrow (on Tuesday) in Delhi with our demands, which include paying additional one per cent additional tax on VAT instead of excise duty, no maintenance of extra register keeping details of each items, no additional tax on remake of old jewellery and no inspection of manufacturing and retail units.

“For this we have temporarily halted the strike in the state from April 14 to 24,” Maharashtra Rajya Saraf Suvarnakar Federation president Fatechand Ranka told PTI in Mumbai.

He said if the demands were not met, the jewellers in the state will resume the strike.

In Maharashtra, jewellery sales everyday go up to Rs 250 crore, which doubles on festive occasions like Gudi Padwa, the Marathi new year.

Jewellers across the country are on indefinite strike since March 2, against the Budget proposal to levy one percent tax.

Over 300 associations comprising over 3 lakh manufacturers, retainers, wholesalers, artisans among others, participated in the stir across the country.

As an alternative to the excise duty, the jewellers said the government can increase the customs duty by 1-2%.